Country Town
Age range 9 to 12
Happy times, sad times, boom times and gloom times! From the First Peoples camp at the river crossing in the 1820s through to Carols by Candlelight at the showground in today’s world, this is a decade by decade wonderfully illustrated story of a small country community.
Historian and novelist Isolde Martyn researched nearly every town in Australia for the bicentenary volume Events and Places and enjoyed being the editor of The Reader’s Digest Motoring Guide to Australia. She is also the author of eight historical novels and her debut novel won top awards in the USA and Australia.
Robyn Ridgeway brings a First Nations perspective to Country Town. Her ancestry is from the NSW North coast. Her mother was a Thungutti woman, her father a Worimi man. She worked at Tranby Aboriginal College, teaching Aboriginal Studies before moving to TAFE where she teaches Aboriginal Studies at both a Diploma and HSC level. Robyn is involved with several Aboriginal Committees with TAFE as well as the local Community. She also writes poetry and YA fiction.
Louise Hogan is best known for When a Goose Meets a Moose and Apples for Hurricane Street, which was shortlisted for the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award. Although she graduated from the National Art School with a Diploma in Interior Design, illustrating children’s books was her real ambition. She even worked at Taronga Zoo art department to practise drawing animals.
